the Parents in suffring of them to grow too old or stuborne before they breake them of their obstinacie I Must néeder in this place mention vnto you a youth of fifterne or sixteene yeares of age of a ready wit but otherwise vicious and lewd of life which hapned through the fault of the father and mother who were so far from correcting him that they durst not so much as threaten him nor say any word to him that might displease him and I remember when he was fiue or fire yeares olde if any tolde them that they must rebuke him for some faulte he had done they would excuse him by and by saying he was not yet of age to know his fault And beeing seauen or eight yeares olde they would nouer beate him nor threaten him least through some great feare his bloud should be chase or inflamed whereby he might be cast into an ague No at ten yeares olde they thought not good to trouble nor molest him alledging that stripes and threats would too much pull downe his courage and take from him his stout and proud stomacke and though now for his haughty conditions he be hated of all the whole Cittie yet they leaue not to excuse him still saying he must first grow and then after be wise and that within few dayes they wil send him to schoole where he shall learne wit But now many a one lookes when hee shall be of age to he hanged oâ—â— the gallowes to heare him before the people to lay the fault vpon his father and mother and iustly curse their foolish lone and shamefull cockering attempting as one did once to teare their nose and their eares of with his teeth CHAP. XIX ¶ Yf a childe be of neuer so good a wit yet for want of good bringing vp groweth to be ouer-bad and base in conditions and this oftentimes falleth out by the cockering of their Parents BY this example in the former Chapter reciâ—â—d it is verified that a child though of nouer so good a witt yet beeing ill brought vp proueth too bad but this great tockering and compassion is proper to the mother who commonly bringeth vp her children with more tender affection and discretion and according to the olde saying it is an hard matter for a mother to be fond of her children and wise both together but yet the right loue is to beate and correct them when they shall deserue it for certainely the rod doth not tessen the mothers loue but rather increase it for if the excesse of loue be to be blamed in the mother much more is it to be reproued in the father whese part it is ito examine and correct his childrens faults assuring himselfe the onely way to spoyle them is to be too much fond and tender ouer them But now I must tell you which be these fathers that I call more then fathers in my oppinion they be those which are too cruell to their children and beate them continually like slaues for the least fault in the world Truely those fathers are to be misliked of all men for that without any discretion they measure their children by themselues and require at their hands a matter impossible whch is to haue them be olde in their youth not suffering them to inioy that liberty which is alowed to their age and in my minde they descrue no other name then of Schoole-maisters for that they cannot manner their children well vnlesse they haue a rod in their hand for if they were right fathers they would be content that their children shoulde learne of them nothing else but to refrayne from doing ill and to vse to doe that which is good and honest which a childe is brought too rather by loue then by force but the authoritie which some vn-wise fathers take vpon them is so great that without respecting age time or place they will heepe their children vnder by force and make them doe enery thing contrary to nature yea euen to wear their apparell after the fashion of the good men of the time past In this they doe amisse and hereby they make their children not to loue them harsely and to obey them rather for feare then affection And besides they consider not that the beating without measure and the keeping them in continuall feare is the cause that a man cannot iudge to what manner of life they are by nature inclined Moreouer it dulleth their wits and represseth their naturall strength in such sort that their is no liuely spirit left in them and comming in any company they know neyther which way to looke nor what to doe but stand like simple Idiots There I giue this counsell vnto all parents to leaue their butchery beating and consider rather that for larke of yeares their children cannot haue perfect vnderstanding and experience in thinges whereby they are to be borne withall when they doe amisse CHAP. XX. ¶ Of the great commendations of such parents as keepe their children in awe whilest they are young I Like those fathers well that can keepe their children in awe onely with shakeing their head at them or vsing some such like signe and can onely with a word correct them and make them ashamed of their fault yet I am perswaded that there are few fathers that know how to keepe the meane but they will orther be too rough or too gentle to their children whereof as the one driues them to desperatenes so the other bringeth them to wantonnes We must thinke that a childe hath giuen vnto him a father and a mother to the end that of the wisedome of the one and the loue of the other that meane I speak of might be made and that the seueritie of the father may be somwhat mittigated by the leuity of the mother Now this calls to mind an other disagréement betwéen the father and the childe which is the partiall loue of the father towardes his children for in my minde it is a great fault that he should loue one more then an other and that all being of his flesh and bloud he should cast a merry countenance vpon some of them and an angry looke vpon other some Yet this is the nature of man that a father loneth not all his children alike and yet he whom he loueth least cannot iustly complaine of him for the in-equality of loue is permitted to the fathers affection A father that is a husbandman hauing one sonne a scholler an other a Marchant and an other a husbandman of those three it is a great chaunce but hee will loue the husbandman best for he seeth him like himselfe in life and manners wherein his other sonnes in duty must be content for by nature we are led to like those things which resemble vs most Oh how hard a thing it is for the father after partiall loue is once entered into his hart to giue iustice indifferently The greater is the wisedome of the father who preferring the deserts of his children before his owne
the rate of the certaine women are worne out and therefore it is best for them to be content to let their husbands weare the brecches A man may well giue women this good Counsell but there be fewe of them that will be so good as follow it and which seeke not still to beare rule ouer their husbands It is a thing reasonable and agreeable to nature that the stronger should commaund ouer the weaker yet some women haue the right quality to order things so well that their husbands should be thought to wrong them greatly if they should finde fault with them Where vpon Cato was wont to say to the Romans we commaund ouer all the world and wiues commaund ouer vs and surely there is no doubt but that many rulers and gouernours of Citties and Countryes are ouer-ruled by their wiues But as those women know how in time and place to be obedient to their husbands So there are some such shameles women that they will not at any time be commanded but by their exclamations scolding and brawling continually alwayes with-standing their husbands wils and make a mock at them playing with them a thousand shrewd prankes which caused a certaine King to say that they were very fooles that would follow their wiues running away This saying puts me in minde of a mery Iest of a husband who his wife hauing drowned herselfe in a Riuer went crying along the Riuer side seeking her against the streame and being tolde that there was no question but that she was gone downe with the streame Alas saith he I cannot thinke it for as in her life time she vsed to do euery thing against the hayre so now in her death she is surely mounted against the streame But to returne againe to our purpose I will say that the wife as the weaker vessel must obey the husband and as men ought to keepe the Lawes of the country So women ought to fulfill the coÌ„mandements of their husbands by which deede they become Mistresses of the house I could here bring in diuers vertuous women who clothing themselus with humility haue caused their husbands to cast of pride cruelty and other wicked vices whereby some haue pardoned their enemies and drawne backe their hands from doing vengeance Other some haue vndone vnlawfull bargaines lest swearing and other vanities and giuen themselues to deuotion and the health of their soules they being brought therevnto by the honest and earnest perswasions and intreatie of their wiues But in an other sort now if the woman sée her husband faile in the loue which he oweth her yet she must not do as he doth but supply vertuously his default shewing to the worlde that for her part she beareth the crosse her selfe which doing she shall haue double rewad of God double praise of the world wherby you may gather that the breach of honour is committed more to the diligence and trust of the wife then of the husband and though the husband offend God as muth as the wife in violating the sacred band of Matrimony Yet the wife ought firmely to print this in her hart and to remember alwaies that where the husband by his fault doth but a little blemish his credit the wife altogether looseth her good name and remaineth spotted with such infamy that she can neuer recouer her honour againe neither by any repentance nor by amendment of her life Therefore let a wife woman siop her eares against the alurements of those which lye in waight for her chastitie and to kéept more safely her honestie both in deede and in worde Likewise let her avoide so much as she may the company of women that haue an ill name who indeauor by their naughty fashions and dishonest speeches to bring others to doe as they doe and wish with all their harts that all women were like themselues But the wife must also know that it is not sufficient to be bonest and innocent in deede but like wise to auâ—â—de all suspition of dishonesty and if shee looke well into the matter shee shall finde small difference in respect of the world betweene beeing naught and beeing thought naught Therefore a wise woman will shun all lightnes and vanity and keepe her selfe from giuing her husband or any other the least suspition in the world knowing that a woman of a suspected Chastitie liueth but in a miserable case and when shee heareth other women ill spoken of let her thinke in her minde what may be spoken of her imagining with her selfe that when a woman is once in an ill name whether it be deseruedly or without cause she hath much adoe to recouer againe her honour shee must not beare her selfe so boldy vpon her honest meaning to thinke that God will alwayes holde his hand ouer her head For he oftentimes suffereth a woman to be reproued wrongfully for a punishment of her lightnes and vanity For it is as common a matter for women to shew themselues vaine and light as for peacocks to spread their tayles Wherefore I may boldely say this when wee haue once taken all vanity from a woman a man shall be able to take nothing else from her CHAP. X. ¶ An admonition to the wise and discreet woman how te gouerne her selfe shewing that chastitie ioyned with vanity deserueth no commendations at all And how many women giue occasion to be ill thought of for these fower causes following Viz Deedes Lookes Wordes and Apparell WEE will briefely comprehend the summe of that we haue said and admonish the wife that Chastity ioyned with vanity deserueth no commendations at all but rather yeth open to the saying of King Demetrius who hearing a man finde fault with one of bis Concubines said vnto him My Concubine is far more modest then thy Wise Therefore a woman must take beede that she giue not men occasion to thinke hardly of her ryther by her Deedes Words Lookes or Apparell The mention of this Apparell now so imboldens me that I cannot choose but speake of the abuse which is committed now a dayes in our country in the ornaments and trimming vp of women who bestow vpon garments all their husbands substance and in garding and trimming of them all the Dowry which they brough with them which maketh me amazed at it and that which greaueth me most is to sée howe Husbands not onely consent to such excesse charge but also are pleased well with the vanitie which their wiues shew in the Strumpet-like dressing of their heads whereby they make men rather laugh at them then like of them and I see not how it is posible for men to maintayne their Wiues in such costly manner as they doe now a dayes in England But that they must let out their mony to Vsurie and vse other deceiptfull words and meanes I will not say they keepe their wiues so brane by secret cousening and cut-throate bargaines And that otherwise they liue poorely and fare hardly purging the sinne of pride with the
not their children in such awe neyther bring them vp in such sort as they ought to doe or to the children who know not how much they are beholding to their fathers But in my mind I conclude that the childe rather is to be in the fault who cannot bring any action against his father though he doe him neuer so great wrong First of all therefore will I begin to excuse the father whom some will thinke to be in fault who ought to haue informed him in his dutie when he was young and tender If the father giue his sonne good lessons and he wil not hearken vnto them what can he doe more If the father offereth Instructions to his child with his right hand and the childe receyueth them with the left what fault is the father in None but this in my opinion but that he deferreth till euening to giue him those Instructions which hee shoulde haue giuen him early in the morning at the sunne rising I meane whilst he is young euen as it were with the milke of the nurse not considering that in tender mindes as it were in war a man may make what impression he lift But I know not how to excuse the children who after their father hath nourished and brought them vp carefully vnder the learned men and instructed them in the faith of Christ in the end run astray liuing lewdly bring forth fruit vnworthy their bringing vp I matualle not so much that a child vertuously brought vp sometime falleth out naught but I count it straunge and as it were against nature that both the father and the sonne being both honest men and for their good dealing well spoken of by all men it shoulde often fall out that they cannot agree together in one house but liue in continuall strict and variance and agreeing well in publike affâ—yres still disagree about houshold matters whereof I could bring forth many examples But this I must say that the sonne in duty ought to suffer his father to commaund ouer him and that he ought to obay him without any resistance And that their conuersation may frame the better I thinke it necessarie to counsell the father how he ought to proceede in his fatherly iurisdiction that he exceede not the bonds of reason and giue not his sonne cause to finde fault with him in his hart and to thinke himselfe ill dealt withall by him by meanes whereof he waxeth colde in the loue and reuerence he ought to beare to his father I cannot forget the olde saying that few children are like the father and that many of them are worse and those that are better are very rare and thin sowen therefore I would willingly search out the cause why so few Children resemble the Father and answere to the hope he conceaueth of them CHAP. XIIII ¶ Of the great discomfort that Children many tymes bring to their Parents through their mis-deameanor towards their parents And of the euill successe that oftentymes hapneth thereby FIRST it is to be considered that Children bring small or no comfort to their Parents if Nature and Fortune be not well temperd in them For as a fruitful graine sowen in a soyle vnfit for it bringeth foorth no increase So a child that is naturally giuen to learning will neuer doe well if be be fet to husbandry so much it behooueth the father to find out in his Childe-hood wherevnto he is most inclined Therefore it behooueth fathers to vse discretion in this poynt that is to finde out the naturall inclination of their children the which is best done in their Infancy as the prouerbe is that by the morning it may be gathered how all the day will proue after whether it will be eyther faire or foule I thinke this counsell most necessary to be respected by the fathers who force their Children to enter into trade of life which is altogether contrary to their mindes and therefore no maruaile though they receiue small comfort of them For thereof many times insueth the dishonor of their house and which is worse great offence towardes God as when poore boyes are put to study diuinitie who euen from their mothers wombe desire the warres Those fathers that set their children to things contrary to their disposition are rather to be pittied then blamed for that happeneth commonly for lacke of taking hade but those which thrust their children into Colledges before they are of yeares to choose or refuse that life Are no doubt greatly to be blamed for that they bring their children too it eyther through feare or through false perswasions which is nothing else but to withstand the will of God and so take from their children that free choyce which God of his diuine goodnes hath promised them Therefore if the father be carefull of the loue and quiet of his house let him be also carefull to know whether his sonnes mindes be giuen eyther to learning or to armies or to husbandry or to marchandize and when hee shall perceiue he hath drawne him out of the right let him make him returne into it forthwith and set him againe where he should be otherwise let him assure himselfe that a thing ill begun will come to a worse end Seeing we are to search why children oftentimes fall not out according to the good hope of their parents weâ— haue neede to begin at the milk they sucke in their cradles for that the nurses milke is of such force that the vse therof maketh the child take after her then after the mother which brought him into the world and when I remember the custome of diuers women in Fraunce who bring vp their Infants onely with the milke of beasts I thinks thereof it commeth that diuers of them are so sterce and cruell that by their ill life many of them shew themselues scarce to be indued with that reason proper to men I am of mind without doubt that the effects of the milke is maruelous and it is a thing certaine that if a lambe be nourished with the milke of a Goate or a Kidd with the milke of a yeaw the Kidd will haue a very soft hayre and the Lambe a very rough and barry wooll And therefore it is thought that as the childe by reason of the milke taketh after the complerion of the Nurse So the disposition of the minde fol oweth the complerion of the body and thereof also it commeth that the daughters of honest women oftentimes proue altogether vn-like them both in body and minde so that to deliuer Children from their mothere to nurses cannot be said so be other then a corrupting of nature But if wee should make mention of this first nourishment we should haue spoken of it when we discoursed of vnfortunate mariages but I neyther spake of it there neyther will doe here The reason I forbeare to speake of it is for that women at this day are so curious of their comlines or rather of their vanity that they had rather to
peruert the nature of their children then chaunge the forme of their hard and round papps Whereof it commeth often to passe that the children fashioning themselues to the humours of their nurses swarue from the loue and dutie they owe to their mothers and haue not in them the bloud which moueth then to obey which is manifest by the example of a bastard in Italy who returning from the warres laden with the spoyles of the enemy had his mother and his nurse comming before him be gaue to his mother a siluer ring and to his nurse a chayne of golde which his mother misliking with he talde her she was to blame to doe so saying You hore me but nine monethes in your wombe but my nurse kept me with her seats the space of two yeares that which I hold of you is my body which you gaue me scarre donestly but that which I haue of her proceeded of a pure affection And moreouer as soone as I was borne you depriued me of your company and vanished me your presence but she most gratiously receiued me banished as I was betwéene her armes and vsed me so wel that she hath brought me to this you see these reasons with others stopped his mothers mouth being ashamed and made his nurss further in loue with him but resurne we againe to our matter Seeing that diuers women will not be the whole mother of their children they ought at least to be carefull to choose good nurses and of a good complexion For as the first abuse began in setting out their children to nurse so consequently followed the second not to respect the nature of the nurse CHAP. XV. ¶ Herein is shewed the occasions of the great difference that oftentimes hapneth betweene the Parents and their Children BVT now let vs goe forward to shew the occasions of the difference betweene the fathers and their children holding for certaine that the difference proceedeth from the trade of life the childe is set too and therefore I say that it is not enough for the father to know wherevnto his child is not naturally giuen if afterward he indeauour not to assist him and carefully to prouide to place him in that Art or Science that he most desires Another cause of this difference betwéene the father and the childe is when the father loueth himselfe better then his child keeping him with him to play withall without taking any care to set him to masters which may instruct him in Learning or to the Court or to those professions wherevnto his mind is most inclined In this many wealthy fathers greatly offend who beare themselues bolde vpon their goods and neuer take care for the bringing vp of their children in learning and vertue but suffer their wits to be dulled with idlenes and gluttony that as the prouerbe is they know not chaffe from corne but grow to haue as good iudgement as the Asse which iudged the Cuckoes singing to be more sweets then the Nightingales but now some will say that the more the father kéepeth his children about him the more he maketh their manners like to his But such men are deceiued for the life of the olde father is no patterne for the young sonne to shape his doings by and besides in time he will accuse his father for that hauing oppertunitie to send him abroad to get wealth and estimation he kept him at home and thereby hindreth his preferment Therefore those fathers that loue their children will not by keeping them vnder their wings hinder their preferment for in my iudgement the father shewes his child the greater figne of good will in letting them goe from him then in keeping him at home for thereby he prefers his childs profit before his owne and if he loue him as he ought by nature he must also loue his preferment and séeke to better his estate liking better that be should dye like a horse in a battell then liue like a bogge in the mire I haue yet made no mention of fathers which are indued with learning sufficient to make his childe partaker of his knowledge for indéed they be very rare and if there be any such yet they will not or they cannot take such paines nor tye themselues to such a charge hauing other busines Marry if they would vndertake it there is no doubt but great good would come of it for that the father would instruct the child more carefully and the child would receiue it more haedefully of his father then of his maister For Cato of Rome himselfe taught his sonne and brought him to great perfection without the helpe of any gouernour or maister Likewise Octauian Augustus being Emperour tooke no scorne to teach his two adoptine sonnes but the iniquitie of this our time is sach that men would count it a monsterous thing to see a father being a gentleman to teach his sonne but the shame of those fathers is greater who being neither sufficient nor willing to teach their children themselues take no care to put them out to be instructed by others such men in my iudgement are very simple and know not the difference betweene the learned and the ignorant Yet for all that the abuse of this age is such that the men of our time will not haue their sonnes breake their heads with study and in a manner mislike that they should reade forgetting quite that the ignorant in comparison of the learned are worse then dead and that rich men without learning are budies without minds and tearmed by Diogines sheepe with golden fleects and therefore they ought to be more carefull to instruct their children in learning for as the poore are driuen to study by necessity so the rich are hindred from it by superfluitie and they consider not vntill it be too late that learning is more necessary for rich men then for poore for the rich haue more dealings in the world and haue â—â—ore néede of wit then the poorer sort for riches are brettle and frayle and can hardly last without they be kept with great wit and wisdome And it is certaine that a man siueth better with a little gotten by labour then a great deale giuen him by fortune and those which waxproud through aboundance of riches shew themselues not to know what happened to the snaile that made his braggs how he had gotten to the top of the pine tree a little before a tempest blew it downe CHAP. XVI ¶ Of the great wisedome of men in getting of riches and of the excellencie of many good and learned Maisters now in this age LET vs now goe a little furder and consider that those which are wise the richer they are the better they will consider with themselues how riches are gotten with trauell kept with feare and lost with griefe and that he which putteth his trust in them shall be deceiued for the true riches are those which cannot be lost being once gotten and therefore wise fathers will be carefull to bring vp their
children in learning perswading them that they are neuer rich vntill they be learned There are in this age many masters excellent in learning and yet lewd in life therefore it is the fathers wisedome to be very wary in the choyse of them least what his sonne getteth one way he looseth an other way for he must haue as great care to make him vertuous as learned and he must haue more care to make him good then to leaue him riches For as one said if thy sonne be wise and honest thou shalt leaue him good enough but if he be a foole thou shalt leaue him too much for fooles are not fit to possesse riches Now if the child be not giuen to learning the Father must not fayle to imploy him some other way for there is nothing more daungerous then an idle young man and as the tree that blossometh not in the spring time bringeth forth no fruit in haruest so he shall neuer come to liue honestly when he is a man who is not vertuously exercised while he us a child CHAP. XVII ¶ Of the euill successe of many children through the imperfections of their Parents VT amongst the other occasions of the ill successe of children this is one when the father is careles to make them in time to raise themselues from the ground my meaning is that the father béeing carefull of his sonnes aduauncement is many times so curious to see him instructed in worldly matters that forgetting how the beginning of Wisedome is the feare of God be taketh no care at all to instruct him in the Christian Fayth whereof it commeth to passe that many vnhappy children trayned vp altogether in worldly astayres and depriued of the true light cannot sée the right way but runneth into perdition For the wisedome of the world is folly with God and it is a thing impossible for him to liue well that knoweth not God Therefore I would haue parents to take care both for the minde and body of their Children but because the minde beeing the more excellent it is reason to cast out chéefest care vpon it And for that the minde in Infants is like a table booke wherein nothing is written and like a tender twig which may be bowed euery way it is cleare that vertue or vice may be easily planted in it and for that it is knowne by proofe that these things are kept best in memory which are learned in youth Fathers ought to instruct their Children in the best thing they can especially in the feare and loue of God holding it for a generall rule that he which knoweth euery thing and knoweth not God knoweth nothing but if the father be diligent to instruct his children in the Lawe of God he shall get his ioy by it that his children thereby will doe him the more honour and reuerence knowing that it is gods will they should do so But now let vs returne againe to the former occasion of the ill successe of children to which may be added this when the father setteth before them a stayned and spotted glasse to looke in that is when he giueth them ill example which the Romanes were very circumspect in whose modesty was so great that the father would neuer bathe himselfe in the company of his sonne for it is counted a great fault in the father to suffer himselfe to be séene naked by his sonne It is no maruaile though Cato put Manlius out of the Senat of Rome onely for kissing his wife in the presence of his daughter Therefore the father ought aboue all things to shew him selfe such before them as he witheth they should be for the master doth not them so much good by his instruction as the father doth them harme by his euill example for they are by nature lead rather to follow his steps then their masters precepts For it is so naturall a thing for the sonne to resemble the father in wicked qualities as swearing cursing and such other vices that if by chaunce some child doe not follow his father in them but liueth vertuously yet the world will scarce beleeue that be doth so by reason of the euill opinion they haue of the father but rather will thinke that the childe is â—eâ—re to his vices as well as to his lands and when they can find no fault with him any way some one or other will not stick to hiâ— him in the teeth that he was the sonne of a wicked man Likewise it the father be honest and the sonne lewd the fathers good name is called in question through the sonnes folly And many men thinke it vnpossible that the sonne should tread awry vnles he were by his father led thereto And thereupon it is thought that those men which vse too extreame seueritie towardes their children is not done so much vpon displeasure that take against them as for the care then haue to maintaine their owne credit I would therefore haue all fathers to frame themselues to line well and orderly as well for their owne sakes as for the venefit of their children who seeing vertue shining in their fathers deeds will haue a desire in all goodnes to follow their steps For when children sée their fathers seruants of the house stand renerently waiting vpon him and ready at the holding vp of his finger to do his commaundements they will thereby take example to doe their duile likewise and not be lesse obedient then leruants and straungers and besides indeauour to be like to their father in deedes that they may in time to come receiue the like reuerence of their seruants as they see their father doe of his For the father that giueth an ill example to the child in time shall be had in contempt by the child so that be shall neyther receiue succour of him in his latter dayes nor at his death that last duty to close vp his eyes besides the father liuing disorderly many times make hand of those goods which his Children should liue by I will now passe further to more occasions of the vnfortunate course of life betworne the father and the child whereof there are two that come into my minde the one is when the father is more then a mother the other when he is more then a father My meaning how he should be more then a mother is when he is to blinded that he seeth not the imperfections of his childe or if he see them yet is ready to commend them or to excuse them in such sort that if his sonne be haughty or hare-brain'd be termeth him couragious if he be base-minded he connteth him modest if a praâ—ing boy he will haue him all Orator and in flattering thus himselfe he thinkes him the best Childe in the world with which blindnes the fathers of one onely childe are for the most part strucken CHAP. XVIII ¶ Of the lewdnes of many children through the want of their good bringing vp whilest they are young And of the ouer-sight of
partiall loue maketh his sences yeeld to reason and sheweth himselfe in deeds a like towards all I will not deny but the father by his authoritie may distribute his fauours as he seeth good to one more to an other lesse according to the state and doings of his children for as by gentle vsage he incourageth a child that is well giuen to doe well so by hard handling he may bring one that is vntoward to goodnes Yea if he haue any childe that is past grace without any hope of recouerie he may lawfully not onely loue him lesse then the rest but quite cast him out of his fauour But those fathers are greatly to be blamed who with vniust partiality and without any reasonable consideration on will vse one child as ligetimate the other vnlawfull whereof it followeth that he which is so meanely accounted of doth not onely fayle in affection to his kindred but beginneth to fall to secret warre with his owne brothers whereby the father that might establish peace and concord amongst his children shall by his partiality plant amongst them a roote of continaull discord Therefore the father ought to be well aduised how he preferreth in good will one childe before an other and not to doe it vpon euery light occasion I likewise thinke it a great folly insome fathers that make some of their children their darling and minion with out seeing any towardnes in them in the world and let euery man to haue knowledge of their fond causles affection yet it often falleth out that those children by reason of their wanton and dilicate bringing vp proue doults and simple sotts whereas contratiwise those which are banished from their fathers loue and driuen to shift for themselues doe oftentimes by their owne paine and trauell so aduaunce their estates that they are in better case then their father or their lawfull brothers to whom oft-times they afford ayde and succour in their distresses we may boldely then say that the in-iustice of the father bréedeth disagreement betweene his children and himselfe But now againe to our purpose It is commonly seene and that for the most part those children which are most made of fall out the worst and haue many misfortunes which makes me remember a prety Iest of an Ape that had two young ones at a litter whereof she loued the one and cared nothing for the other which Ape vpon occasion was driuen from her den and hauing taken that which she loued in her armes and tyed the other at her backe in running she stumbled and fell howne against the hard ground and so killed her young one she had in her armes and loued so well but the other which was at her backe had no harme at all whereby we may see that the Father oftimes doth pennance for his fondnes But to returne to our matter there is yet remaining one occasion of the disagreement betweene the Father and the Childe which is when the Father will not suffer his Children to come forth of their Infancy meaning that when eyther thorough the authoritie of olde age or couetouâ—nes the father though his Children be growne to mans estate will alow them neither more liuing nor more liberty even they had when they were Children therefore let al men learne know that Children now adayes are borne wise and haue gray haires in youth and as men liue not so long in these dayes as they did in times past so they grow sooner to ripenes of wit now theÌ„ they did here to fore therefore I am to aduise the Father if he tender the well doing of his Childe to alow him with discretion some liberty in matters of the House suffring him sometime to inuite to welcome make his companions good cheere to giue entertainment to strangers and as occasion shal serue to vse the goods of the house to serue his turne but aboue all things he must still counsell the Sonne to play the good husband to see to things about home whereby he may be able to keepe augment his estate keep himselfe froÌ„ falling into decay Hereof will rise thrée good effects the first is the loue of the sonne who seeing his father withdraw himselfe by litle little froÌ„ the gouerment of the house to the intent to put him in his roome receiueth therby wonderful countentment and thinketh himselfe in mind much bound vnto him not onely honoreth him but witheth him long to liue on earth The second is the commoditie of the sonne who by this meanes after his fathers death shall haue no neede to seeke counsel at his friends kinsfolks hands nor to put the ordering of his house to the discretion of his seruants hauing by the foresight of his father at things long before in his owne hands so that the gouerment of his house shall not be strange nor troublesome vnto him as it is to many when they haue lost their Father The third is the sweete rest and content of minde which the Father inioyeth in his old dayes both for that he feeleth himselfe ridde from all worldly troubles and besides seeth his Sonne by his example gouerne his house orderly and for my part I count it the chiefest felicitie in this world for a man to haue about him a number of goodly Children which are growne to perfection whom he may tearme the light of his eyes and the staffe of his age and mee thikes it must needes be a greater comfort to the Father to see a proofe of his Childe and how discreetly he can dispose of his lyuing and order his houshould then to doe it himslefe now when the Father shall be arriued to the hauen of such happinesse mee thinkes he may ioyfully looke for the last hower of his life and die most contentedly Yet in the holy Scriptures in it written Giue no authoritie ouer thee neither to thy Sonne neither to thy Wife neither to thy Brother nor to thy Friend and giue not away thy liuing to another while thou art aliue least thou afterward repent it Yet there haue been in time past and are at this day many wise Fathers which depart with their Liuinges to their Children and yet incurre no inconuenience by it mary they doe it in such sort that they neither bring themselues in subiection to their Children nor into such case that they are not able to liue without them But now in briefe I giue the Father to vnderstand that there is nothing in this world wherein there ought more care and diligence to be bestowed then in the bringing vp of Children for thereof proceedeth for the most part either the mayntenance or the decay of Houses therefore he must begin in time to furnish their tender mindes with the feare and knowledge of God and such good conditions that they may learne to liue as if they were still at the poynt to die that he indeauour to keepe them in obeydience rather by loue then feare and cause them to doe